Great news!!

  There has been a change here at the CCM that allows us
to write for an hour instead of only half an hour, due to the huge
overload of missionaries here. Unfortunately, this new change has
come about during our last week here. But that´s fine. It is very nice
to have the time to type everything out at a much calmer pace. I have
lots to share.

It has been a great week. Busy, but great. I want to update on some
things I forgot to mention on my last message. First off, I have been
able to utilize some physical therapy skills here and help cure a
roommate´s neck pain. She had neck pain from hitting her head that
was making it very uncomfortable for her to sit up for an extended
period of time. I did a quick assessment and gave her a couple of
exercises to do throughout the rest of the day. Guess what?! It
worked! She was basically pain free by the next day. The Mckenzie
Method of Physical therapy is alive and well in the CCM! Also, I have
influenced my district to work on their posture. Because they always
see me sitting up straight and I´ve given them a few tips on posture
and minimizing backpain through good postrure, many of them are
working on sitting upright! It´s been fun to see them improve with it
and use some of the tricks I have from working at Mechanical Diagnosis
and Therapy.

 Now to the events of the past week.
First off, I will be leaving the CCM this next week. If you are
planning on sending any letters, please do not send them to the CCM at
this point. I will likely not get them until much later.
Last Wednesday was our Preparation Day. A day for us to ´relax´from the
norm and do something outside. This time, we went to the stake center
(The Church building for a large area) and played games. We ended up
playing a game where we all sit in a huge circle of chairs and one
person in the middle says something they have never done ("I have
never broken a bone" for example). If you, sitting in the circle, HAVE
done it, then you have to get up and find a new chair. If you can´t
find a chair, you are the next person to take the seat. It was a lot
of fun. We had a good portion of people playing the game. After a
little bit, my companion and I slipped into a room with a piano and I
was able to plink around on it. I love the piano and it was a
wonderful outlet for me. After this, we all went to Walmart. We went
in with a mission, a list of things to get. With only a short 30
minutes to raid and comb the store for the things we needed, my
companion and I had a battle plan for where to go first. Then
finally, we went to a very nice mall (heavily North American
influenced) and enjoyed some fast food from well known U.S. fast food
chains.

 My district is practicing a song to perform this
upcoming Sunday as our farewell to the CCM. We´re singing one of my
all time favorite songs- Come Thou Font. It´s beautiful! I am so
excited to sing it. There´s this teaching practice
venue that we call CRE. It is a little house that is set up with
several different rooms to help us imagine we´re actually going to
visit real people. We go in and teach people who are having a hard
time with going to church or keeping commandments, but have already
been baptized. They are fake and only playing a role, but it is still
a great practice. My companion and I had a wonderful experience with
one of these practices. When we walked in and the gentleman greeted
us, he started talking to us about....who knows what. We couldn´t
understand him! We were both certain we were in trouble. But, as
soon as we turned things to the gospel, it was so easy to speak and
understand him. (By far not perfect, however). But the Spirit was
there. This wonderful, peaceful feeling came over the room as we
resolved his issues and invited him to make the changes in his life
that he needed to do in order to find some answers out for himself.
We were both just stunned and grinning ear to ear when we left. That
definitely wasn´t us teaching the lesson. We were guided to know what
to say.

We watched a portion of a movie this last week, called Errand of
Angels. A friend of mine, Ryan, had told me several times that I
should watch it before I left. I wanted to, but never got around to it
or had access to the movie. It definitely makes you ponder how you
treat others and how a change in perspective can really affect the
whole outlook. on a person. So, this is my little shout out to Ryan
that I watched it!

Alright, so I've had some wonderful experiences and thoughts lately
that I just have to share. The first is that I realize perfection, in
a lesson, in life, in anything, does not exist. Things will NOT go
according to plan, but things (for me, a lesson in particular) can be
perfect if the Spirit is there. That is perfection. Not how well I
speak Spanish, not how well the thoughts of me and my companion
mesh....but how well we invite the Spirit into a lesson and our lives.
Second thought: A prayer of gratitude for the things you´re
grateful for is sometimes better than asking for the things you think you need.
I had an experience with this just the other day. I highly encourage
it.
Last thought: My companion brought a wonderful talk with her. It´s
called the Fourth Missionary. If anyone wants to get me a copy of
it...I would be VERY grateful. It´s phenomenal. It talks about
progressing and how we can only truly progress and grow in the Lord if
we give ourselves to the Lord. Not just obedience, but by WILLINGLY
doing the things he asks us. I have a lot I could say about it, but
for time´s sake I cannot write it out now. For those of you who would
like to hear about some of the awesomeness that is this talk, then
feel free to email me and let me know. (Especially my missionary
compadres.)
Things continue to count down to our departure from the CCM. In one
week, I will finally be among the people, doing what I came out here
to do- and share the joy with the people of Guatemala! Yes, it´s
intimidating. Yes, I´m a teensy bit worried about my lack of knowledge
with the language....but I have faith that it will be ok. Not easy.
But ok. I thought of you all a lot this last week when we had a
torrential downpour through the night. It reminded me of home. I
love you all and hope to hear from you all soon!

Sincerely,
Hermana Schultz